1.31.21 HUDDLE

Zach Below   -   February 1, 2021

INTRO QUESTIONS

  1. Have you ever had a season in life where everything was just firing on all cylinders . . . where it felt like everything was going right?
  2. What about the opposite? Have you ever had a season where you felt everything was going wrong?

 

HUDDLE INTRO

This week, we are talking a break from Luke and our “Listen, Do, Repeat” series and exploring the book of Haggai. Haggai is not a book that people are overly familiar with, so here is everything you need to know about Haggai in 9 points.

 

  1. Haggai is an Old Testament book that is classified as one of the “Minor Prophets.”
  2. “Minor” refers to the amount of material, not the importance of the message. For instance, the book of Isaiah, which is one of the “Major” prophets, has 66 chapters. Haggai only has 2 chapters.
  3. Some Background—One of the most important events in Israel’s history was when God delivered the Israelites after 400 years of slavery in Egypt. God frees the Israelites and delivers them to the Promise Land (Israel).
  4. The Israelites become God’s people. God desires to reveal his presence in a way unique from all others. As such, God asks them to live as he designs and to provide a place for his presence. God tells them that if they do both of those things, it will go well. If not, he would remove them from the promise land.
  5. Well . . . they don’t, and God is true to his word. In 587 BC, the Babylonians (an ancient Super-power) invade Israel. They destroy the temple and force the majority of the Israelites into exile—walking them 600 miles to Babylon.
  6. Then, 70 years later, Persia becomes the new super-power under King Cyrus the Great. They defeat the Babylonians and allow the Israelites to return to Israel to rebuild the temple.
  7. Out of a few million Israelites in Babylon, around 50,000 make the 600-mile journey back to Israel to rebuild the temple.
  8. They return to Israel and begin to rebuild the temple. They complete the alter and the foundation and then run into some government resistance. This causes them to decide to delay rebuilding and days turned into months, which turned into 14 years.
  9. That is where Haggai starts. 14 years have passed since the foundation of the temple was rebuilt and left unfinished.

 

 

BIBLE ENGAGEMENT—READ HAGGAI 1:1-15

1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak,[a] the high priest:

2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”

3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”

5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine,the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.

13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.

 

 

BIBLE ENGAGMENT QUESTIONS

  1. What stands out to you from the text?

 

  1. How would you summarize this story? What is God saying through Haggai?

 

  1. When we engage in scripture, we have to first ask what a text meant to the original audience. Only after asking that can we move to personal application. On Sunday, Pastor Bret summarized 5 bullet points of what God said to the Israelites. In this exercise, see if you can find text support for each statement.

 

  • “You’re frustrated and I did that.”
  • “You’re procrastinating.”
  • “Think!”
  • “Your priorities are out of whack.”
  • “Move!”

 

 

APPLICATION

In the Old Testament, the Temple was a building that housed God’s presence. However, because of the work of Christ, when the New Testament describes the Temple, it describes people. In the New Testament, the people of God are the temple. This section will explore the idea of “rebuilding the temple” (the people of God) in light of 2020.”

 

  1. What does it mean to “restore the temple” in light of 2020?

 

  1. What are some things that help restore you when you are struggling?

 

  1. In what ways have others helped restore you over the past year?

 

  1. What is thing you can do this week to help restore someone that you know is struggling?

 

 

CLOSE IN PRAYER